Human migration out of Africa may have followed monsoons in the Middle East

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on November 26, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Early Humans, Earth Science, Israel, Jordan, Middle East, Palaeoclimate, Palestine, Syria

Last year, scientists announced that a human jawbone and prehistoric tools found in 2002 in Misliya Cave, on the western edge of Israel, were between 177,000 and 194,000 years old.

Ian Orland at Soreq Cave, Israel, where some calcite cave formations are 185,000 years old [Credit: Ian Orland]

The finding suggested that modern humans, who originated in Africa, began migrating out of the continent at least 40,000 years earlier than scientists previously thought.

But the story of how and when modern humans originated and spread throughout the world is still in draft form. That's because science hasn't settled how many times modern humans left Africa, or just how many routes they may have taken.

A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by American and Israeli geoscientists and climatologists provides evidence that summer monsoons from Asia and Africa may have reached into the Middle East for periods of time going back at least 125,000 years, providing suitable corridors for human migration.

The likely timing of these northward monsoon expansions corresponds with cyclical changes in Earth's orbit that would have brought the Northern Hemisphere closer to the sun and led to increased summer precipitation. With increased summer precipitation there may have been increased vegetation, supporting animal and human migration into the region.

"It could be important context for experts studying how, why, and when early modern humans were migrating out of Africa," says lead author Ian Orland, a University of Wisconsin-Madison geoscientist now at the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, in the Division of Extension. "The Eastern Mediterranean was a critical bottleneck for that route out of Africa and if our suggestion is right, at 125,000 years ago and potentially at other periods, there may have been more consistent rainfall on a year-round basis that might enhance the ability of humans to migrate."

For as long as humans have kept records, winters have been wet and summers have been hot and dry in the Levant, a region that includes Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. Before modern times, those hot, dry summers would have presented a significant barrier to people trying to move across the landscape.

Scientists, though, have found it difficult to determine what kinds of precipitation patterns might have existed in the prehistoric Levant. Some studies examining a variety of evidence, including pollen records, ancient lake beds, and Dead Sea sediments, along with some climate modeling studies, indicate summers in the region may have, on occasion, been wet.

To try to better understand this seasonality, Orland and colleagues looked at cave formations called speleothems in Israel's Soreq Cave. Speleothems, such as stalactites and stalagmites, form when water drips into a cave and deposits a hard mineral called calcite. The water contains chemical fingerprints called isotopes that keep a record, like an archive, of the timing and environmental conditions under which speleothems have grown.

Among these isotopes are different forms of oxygen molecules -- a light form called O16 and a heavy form called O18. Today, the water contributing to speleothem growth throughout much of the year has both heavy and light oxygen, with the light oxygen predominantly delivered by rainstorms during the winter wet season.

Orland and his colleagues hypothesized they might be able to discern from speleothems whether two rainy seasons had contributed to their growth at times in the past because they might show a similar signature of light oxygen in both winter and summer growth.

But to make this comparison, the scientists had to make isotope measurements across single growth bands, which are narrower than a human hair. Using a sensitive instrument in the UW-Madison Department of Geoscience called an ion microprobe, the team measured the relative amounts of light and heavy oxygen at seasonal increments across the growth bands of two 125,000-year-old speleothems from Soreq Cave.

This was the first time that seasonal changes were directly measured in a speleothem this old.

At the same time that Orland was in pursuit of geologic answers, his UW-Madison colleague in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies Center for Climatic Research, Feng He, was independently using climate models to examine how vegetation on the planet has changed with seasonal fluctuations over the last 800,000 years. Colleagues since graduate school, He and Orland teamed up to combine their respective approaches after learning their studies were complementary.

A previous study in 2014 from UW-Madison climatologist and Professor Emeritus John Kutzbach showed that the Middle East may have been warmer and wetter than usual during two periods of time corresponding roughly to 125,000 years ago and 105,000 years ago. Meanwhile, at a point in between, 115,000 years ago, conditions there were more similar to today.

The wetter time periods corresponded to peak summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere, when Earth passes closer to the sun due to subtle changes in its orbit. The drier time period corresponded to one of its farthest orbits from the sun. Monsoon seasons tend to be stronger during peak insolation.

This provided He an opportunity to study high and low insolation rainfall during summer seasons in the Middle East and to study its isotopic signatures.

The climate model "fueled the summer monsoon hypothesis" because it suggested that "under these conditions, the monsoons could have reached the Middle East and would have a low O18 signature," He, a study co-author, says. "It's a very intriguing period in terms of climate and human evolution."

His model showed that northward expansion of the African and Asian summer monsoons was possible during this time period, would have brought significant rainfall to the Levant in the summer months, would have nearly doubled annual precipitation in the region, and would have left an oxygen isotope signature similar to winter rains.

At the same time, Orland's speleothem isotype analysis also suggested summers were rainier during peak insolation at 125,000 and 105,000 years ago.

For similar reasons, the Middle East may have also been warm and humid around 176,000 years ago, the researchers say -- about when the jawbone made its way to Misliya Cave. And before the jawbone, the previous oldest modern human fossils found outside of Africa were at Israel's Skh?l Cave, dating back between 80,000 and 120,000 years ago.

Overall, the study suggests that during a period of time when humans and their ancestors were exploring beyond the African continent, conditions may have been favorable for them to traverse the Levant.

"Human migration out of Africa occurred in pulses, which is definitely consistent with our idea that every time the Earth is closer to the sun, the summer monsoon is stronger and that's the climatic window that opened and provided opportunities for human migration out of Africa," says He.

Author: Kelly April Tyrrell | Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison [November 26, 2019]

Gazans struggle to protect antiquities from neglect, looting

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 07, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Heritage, Near East, Palestine

Walid al-Aqqad's Gaza home would be the envy of many an antiquities collector. Pieces of Corinthian columns greet visitors in the backyard. Inside, hundreds of ancient pots and other artifacts hang on the walls or are arranged helter-skelter on shelves.

Palestinians work on a 4th century AD St. Hilarion monastery archaeological site in central Gaza Strip [Credit: Khalil Hamra/AP]

They are remnants of five millennia of Gaza's history, from the Bronze Age to the Islamic caliphates and on down to the years of Ottoman and British rule in the 20th century.

A sliver of land on the Mediterranean, Gaza was a major trade route between Egypt and the Levant going back to ancient times. But decades of uprisings, war and political turmoil have inflicted a heavy toll on its rich archaeological heritage, exposing it to looting and destruction.

Palestinians work on a preservation of a Byzantine period mosiac near Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip [Credit: Khalil Hamra/AP]

The Islamic militant group Hamas seized Gaza in 2007 from forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. In response, Egypt and Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza that has left the territory isolated and increasingly impoverished. The Palestinians say the closures have also hindered excavations and restricted experts' access to new discoveries.

Hamas has done little to protect Gaza's antiquities and in some cases actively destroys them. In 2017, Hamas authorities leveled large parts of Tel Es-Sakan, the remains of a 4,500-year-old Bronze Age city, to make way for construction projects.

Palestinians work on the preservation of a Byzantine period mosaic near the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip [Credit: Khalil Hamra/AP]

Ayman Hassouna, professor of history and archaeology at Gaza's Islamic University, blames Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas equally for not protecting the territory's cultural heritage. He says Israel confiscated artifacts from archaeological digs in the decades it occupied Gaza and did little to prevent antiquities trafficking. Palestinian authorities governing Gaza since 1995 have "attacked many archaeological sites—either intentionally or not," he said.

He also blamed a lack of awareness among Gazans of the importance of preserving antiquities and leaving ancient sites undisturbed. "When they find something, they would hide it or build over it," he said.

Palestinians work on a 4th century AD St. Hilarion monastery archaeological site in central Gaza Strip [Credit: Khalil Hamra/AP]

Antiquities plundering and trafficking also remains a problem, said Heyam al-Bitar, an archaeologist with Gaza's ministry of tourism and antiquities. She said the ministry only learned earlier this year that dozens of ancient Greek silver coins were smuggled out of Gaza in 2016. "It's difficult to track down the trafficking because everything happens in the dark," she said.

Al-Aqqad is one of few trying to save antiquities in Gaza. He began his collection in 1975, buying from collectors or searching the beach and new construction sites. Now his house in the southern city of Khan Younis is an archaeological, heritage and cultural museum, welcoming school trips and history students.

Walid al-Aqqad sits next to Palestinian heritage pieces and antiques piled up inside his private museum in town of Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip [Credit: Khalil Hamra/AP]

"This museum was established by personal efforts and at the expense of my children's bread... to protect the pieces," al-Aqqad said.

His is one of five legally registered private collections in the Strip, containing 10,000 artifacts and objects of historical value, according to the ministry.

A Palestinian looks at ancient artifacts displayed inside the Shahwan private museum in the basement of a building, in Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip [Credit: Khalil Hamra/AP]

The ministry keeps an inventory of all private collections to prevent artifacts from being sold or smuggled out, said al-Bitar. Owners have received training from the ministry and the Islamic University on how to preserve artifacts and restore clay objects when they fracture, she added.

The underfunded ministry opened a public museum in 2010 at al-Basha Palace, a fort built by Gaza's Mamluk rulers in the mid-13th century. It has 350 to 400 pieces held in sparsely-filled display cases. The museum occasionally showcases pieces from the private collections, but does not have space for all of them.

Young Palestinians sit among ancient artifacts displayed inside Shahwan private museum in a basement of a building in town of Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip [Credit: Khalil Hamra/AP]

"The ministry has plans to build a large national museum for all these archaeological pieces, but the political economic situation and the siege on Gaza are preventing this," she said.

Restorers are struggling to save two of Gaza's endangered heritage sites: a 5th century Byzantine Church in Jabaliya, discovered in 1996, and a 4th-century monastery just south of Gaza City. Since the Jabaliya church's discovery, it has suffered from neglect and was damaged in fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants.

Ancient columns are displayed at the Al-Qarara private museum in Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip [Credit: Khalil Hamra/AP]

Last year, French NGO Premiere Urgence Internationale launched an ambitious 26-month project to preserve the two sites with a £1,755,000 grant by the British Council. As part of the project, protective roofs now cover the ruins and layers of sand protect ornate mosaic floors from further destruction.

Authors: Fares Akram & Khalil Hamra | Source: The Associated Press [August 07, 2019]

New study solves mystery of salt buildup on bottom of Dead Sea

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on July 01, 2019 / comment : 0 Earth Science, Geology, Israel, Jordan, Palaeontology, Palestine

New research explains why salt crystals are piling up on the deepest parts of the Dead Sea's floor, a finding that could help scientists understand how large salt deposits formed in Earth's geologic past.

An aerial view of the Dead Sea taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. New research explains why salt crystals  are piling up on the deepest parts of the Dead Sea's floor, a finding that could help scientists understand  how large salt deposits formed in Earth's geologic past [Credit: NASA/Hubble]

The Dead Sea, a salt lake bordered by Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, is nearly 10 times as salty as the ocean. Humans have visited the Dead Sea for thousands of years to experience its purported healing properties and to float in its extremely dense, buoyant waters, and mention of the sea goes back to biblical times.

Much of the freshwater feeding the Dead Sea has been diverted in recent decades, lowering the sea's water levels and making it saltier than before. Scientists first noticed in 1979, after this process had started, that salt crystals were precipitating out of the top layer of water, "snowing" down and piling up on the lakebed. The salt layer on the lake floor has been growing about 10 centimeters (4 inches) thicker every year.

The process driving this salt crystal "snow" and buildup of salt layers on the lakebed has puzzled scientists because it doesn't make sense according to the laws of physics. Now, a new study in AGU's journal Water Resources Research proposes that tiny disturbances in the lake, caused by waves or other motion, create "salt fingers" that slowly funnel salt down to the lakebed. Watch a video about this research here.

"Initially you form these tiny fingers that are too small to observe... but quickly they interact with each other as they move down, and form larger and larger structures," said Raphael Ouillon, a mechanical engineer at the University of California Santa Barbara and lead author of the new study.

Researchers walk along the bank of the Dead Sea, one of Earth's saltiest bodies of water. It is nearly ten times saltier than the ocean [Credit: Nadav Lensky/Geological Survey of Israel]

"The initial fingers might only be a few millimeters or a couple of centimeters thick, but they're everywhere across the entire surface of the lake," said Eckart Meiburg, also a mechanical engineer at UC Santa Barbara and co-author of the new study. "Together these small fingers generate a tremendous amount of salt flux."

The new finding helps researchers better understand the physics of the Dead Sea but also helps explain the formation of massive salt deposits found within Earth's crust.

The Dead Sea is only hypersaline water body on Earth today where this salt fingering process is happening, so it represents a unique laboratory for researchers to study the mechanisms by which these thick salt deposits have formed, according to the authors.

"Altogether this makes the Dead Sea a unique system," said Nadav Lensky, a geologist with the Geological Survey of Israel and co-author of the new study. "Basically, we have here a new finding that we think is very relevant to the understanding of the arrangement of these basins that were so common in Earth's history."

A salty mystery

As the Dead Sea has become saltier in recent decades, much of that salt has become concentrated near its surface. During the summer, extra heat from the Sun warms the surface of the Dead Sea and divides it into two distinct layers: A warm top layer sitting atop a colder lower layer. As water evaporates from the top layer in the summer heat, it becomes saltier than the cooler layer below.


Researchers realized the salt snow they observed was originating in this top salty layer, but this warm water doesn't mix with the cooler water below because it's so much warmer and less dense. So they were puzzled as to how salt from the surface was entering the cooler layer and plummeting to the bottom of the lake.

Lensky and his colleagues proposed an explanation in 2016, and the new research tests this theory for the first time.

They propose that when the top layer of the lake is disturbed by waves or other motion, tiny parcels of warm water enter the cooler pool of water below. Heat diffuses more rapidly than salt, so this warm water parcel rapidly cools. But as it cools it holds less salt, so the salt precipitates out and forms crystals that sink to the bottom. Watch an animation of the salt fingers here.

In the new study, researchers created a computer simulation of how water and salt would flow in the Dead Sea if the salt fingers theory was correct. They found the salt fingers theory correctly predicted the downward flow of salt snow and buildup of salt layers in the middle of the lake's floor. Because the level of the lake is declining, due to pumping of freshwater from the nearby Jordan River, the salt layers are concentrated in the central part of the lake, according to the authors.

Understanding salt deposits elsewhere

The new finding also helps explain the formation of massive salt deposits found within Earth's crust.

Satellite images of the Dead Sea taken in 1972 and 2011, showing how much water levels have dropped since Israel and Jordan began diverting much of the freshwater entering the Dead Sea [Credit: NASA]

"We know that many places around the world have thick salt deposits in the Earth's crust, and these deposits can be up to a kilometer thick," Meiburg said. "But we're uncertain how these salt deposits were generated throughout geological history."

One notable example is the thick salt layer underneath the Mediterranean Sea. Researchers know that about six million years ago, the Strait of Gibraltar closed off, because of the movements of Earth's tectonic plates. This cut off the supply of water from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean, creating a giant shallow inland sea.

After several hundred thousand years, the Mediterranean's water levels dropped so much that the sea partly or nearly dried out, leaving behind thick deposits of salt. The new finding suggests these deposits formed during this time in a similar manner to what is happening right now in the Dead Sea. When the Strait of Gibraltar opened up again, water flooded the basin and the salt deposits were buried under new layers of sediment, where they remain today.

Source: American Geophysical Union [July 01, 2019]

Bethlehem church mosaics sparkle in time for Christmas

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on December 17, 2018 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Heritage, Israel, Near East, Palestine

Masked for centuries by the soot of candles and lately by scaffolding, the mosaics of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity have been restored to their Crusader-era splendour in time for Christmas.

Renovated mosaics and columns inside the Church of the Nativity in the occupied West Bank biblical city of Bethlehem [Credit: Thomas Coex, AFP]

Over the past 15 months, experts have cleaned and repaired surviving fragments of the 12th century masterworks, preserving 1,345 square feet (125 square metres) of what was once 21,528 square feet (2,000 square metres) of glittering gold and glass.

The rest has been eaten away by wear, humidity, wars and earthquakes.

Now the restored remains shine against the white walls above the heads of visitors to the church in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem that marks the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

Overlooking the nave are seven angels framed in gold who appear to have landed on a carpet of vivid green grass.

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is one of the earliest Christian churches and is associated with the birthplace of Jesus [Credit: Thomas Coex, AFP]

Each is placed between windows symbolising divine light. One of the angels was discovered during the restoration work beneath a layer of plaster.

"These mosaics are made of gold leaf placed between two glass plates," Marcello Piacenti, who supervises the work on behalf of his Italian family restoration firm Piacenti, told AFP.

"Only faces and limbs are drawn with small pieces of stone."

One of the partially destroyed angel figures was restored using different materials to the original so as not to mislead future archaeologists.

Details of renovated mosaics inside the Church of the Nativity in the occupied West Bank biblical city of Bethlehem [Credit: Thomas Coex, AFP]

Ibrahim Abed Rabbo, a Palestinian Authority (PA) engineer said the transformation caused by the restoration is striking.

"When you entered the church before, you could not even make out that there were mosaics, it was so black," he said.

In a rarity for the period, the works were signed by the craftsmen responsible, Abed Rabbo said.

In the choir of the church, the visitor can now see an image of Saint Thomas, incredulous at the resurrection, poking his finger into Christ's wound from his crucifixion.

Iconography at the Church of the Nativity has been restored during a five-year project [Credit: Thomas Coex, AFP]

Elsewhere there is the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

"It's meticulously detailed, it gives the impression of being brand new," said Patricia Lieby, 44, a French tourist visiting the church for the first time.

"I have never seen a mosaic like this outside Jerusalem, it's sublime."

Father Asbed Balian is the senior cleric of the Armenian church at the basilica, where property rights are shared with the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox faiths.

Renovated columns [Credit: Thomas Coex, AFP]

After seeing the completed restoration, he said, he was "stunned". "Spiritually, we feel more exalted," he added.

On the nave walls, the restorers also gave renewed life to paintings dating from 1127 and the end of the 12th century when wealthy pilgrims commissioned artists to paint their family or home region saints, for display in the holy site.

"These portraits were barely distinguishable, blackened by the years," Piacenti said.

Now their silhouettes stand out against the church's reddish columns, although the faces were erased after the Muslim conquest, in keeping with the Islamic ban on portrayal of the human form.

Italian artists clean and restore pebble mosaics at the nave of the Church of the Nativity in the occupied West Bank biblical city of Bethlehem [Credit: Thomas Coex, AFP]

The first Church of the Nativity was built in the fourth century by Roman Emperor Constantine and his mother Helene.

That original structure was believed to have been destroyed by fire but Piacenti said no trace of burning was found during the restoration work, leading him to think an earthquake was a more likely cause.

The Byzantines rebuilt the basilica in the sixth century and the Crusaders later added to it.

Due to disagreements between the three faiths responsible for the site, the building had gone unrepaired since the middle of the 19th century.

Italian artists clean and restore pebble mosaics at the nave of the Church of the Nativity [Credit: Thomas Coex, AFP]

In 2002, bullet holes pocked the front of the church after a five-week Israeli army siege when some 100 Palestinians took refuge inside.

When the Palestinian Authority began renovations in 2013, "the basilica was in danger", PA restoration consultant Afif Tweme said.

Scaffolding remains in part of the choir stalls as restorers work, inch by inch, on floor mosaics, hidden from public view by plywood screens.

"It's very special, because of the location," said Piacenti. "Sometimes I have to force them (workers) to leave" at the end of the day.

Tweme said the restoration would "influence tourism for sure".

He hopes the economic benefits will "persuade more of Bethlehem's dwindling local Christian population to stay in the city rather than move away".

Author: Clothilde Mraffko | Source: AFP [December 17, 2018]

Extensive trade in fish between Egypt and Canaan 3,500 years ago

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on October 15, 2018 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Earth Science, Egypt, Israel, Near East, Palestine

Some 3,500 years ago, there was already a brisk trade in fish on the shores of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea. This conclusion follows from the analysis of 100 fish teeth that were found at various archaeological sites in what is now Israel. The saltwater fish from which these teeth originated is the gilthead sea bream, which is also known as the dorade. It was caught in the Bardawil lagoon on the northern Sinai coast and then transported from Egypt to sites in the southern Levant. This fish transport persisted for about 2,000 years, beginning in the Late Bronze Age and continuing into the early Byzantine Period, roughly 300 to 600 AD.

Jaw with a durophagous dentition consisting of teeth with thick enamel of the gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata): The large molariform tooth was used for oxygen isotope analysis and to estimate the size of the fish [Credit: © Guy Sisma-Ventura, Israel]

"Our examination of the teeth revealed that the sea bream must have come from a very saline waterbody, containing much more salt than the water in the Mediterranean Sea," said Professor Thomas Tütken of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). The geoscientist participated in the study together with colleagues from Israel and Göttingen. The Bardawil lagoon formed 4,000 years ago, when the sea level finally stabilized after the end of the last Ice Age. The lagoon was fished intensively and was the point of origin of an extensive fish trade.

As demonstrated by archaeological finds, fishing was an important economic factor for many ancient cultures. In the southern Levant, the gilthead sea bream with the scientific name of Sparus aurata was already being fished by local costal fishermen 50,000 years ago. More exotic fish, such as the Nile perch, were already being traded between Egypt and Canaan over 5,000 years ago. However, the current study shows the extent to which the trade between the neighbours increased in the Late Bronze Age and continued for 2,000 years into the Byzantine Period.

Changes of the oxygen isotopes in the crushing teeth as well as the fish body mass over the last 10,000 years:  From the Late Bronze Age, the sea bream originated from the hypersaline Bardawil lagoon but their body mass was smaller than before, which is an indication of intensification of fishing [Credit: © Thomas Tütken, JGU]

"The Bardawil lagoon was apparently a major source of fish and the starting point for the fish deliveries to Canaan, today's Israel, even though the sea bream could have been caught there locally," stated co-author Professor Andreas Pack from the University of Göttingen.

Fish teeth document over 2,000 years of trade

Gilthead sea bream are a food fish that primarily feed on crabs and mussels. They have a durophagous dentition with button-shaped teeth that enable them to crush the shells to get at the flesh. For the purposes of the study, 100 large shell-cracking teeth of gilthead sea bream were examined. The teeth originate from 12 archaeological sites in the southern Levant, some of which lie inland, some on the coast, and cover a time period from the Neolithic to the Byzantine Period.

One approach of the researchers was to analyze the content of the oxygen isotopes ^18O and ^16O in the tooth enamel of the sea bream. The ratio of ^18O to ^16O provides information on the evaporation rate and thus on the salt content of the surrounding water in which the fish lived. In addition, the researchers were able to estimate the body size of the fish on the basis of the size of the shell-cracking teeth.

Map of the archaeological sites in Israel where the sea bream teeth analyzed were found. Also shown is the Bardawil lagoon on the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula, from which the sea bream  remains found in Israel dating back as far as the Late Bronze Age primarily originated [Credit: © Thomas Tütken, JGU]

The analyses showed that some of the gilthead sea bream originated from the southeastern Mediterranean but that roughly three out of every four must have lived in a very saline body of water. The only water that comes into question in the locality is that of the Bardawil lagoon, the hypersaline water of which has a salt content of 3.9 to 7.4 percent, providing the perfect environment for the growth of sea bream. The Bardawil lagoon on the Sinai coast is approximately 30 kilometers long, 14 kilometers wide, and has a maximum depth of 3 meters. It is separated from the Mediterranean by a narrow sand bar.

"There was a mainland route from there to Canaan, but the fish were probably first dried and then transported by sea," added Tütken. Even back then, sea bream were probably a very popular food fish, although it is impossible to estimate actual quantities consumed. However, it became apparent that the fish traded from the period of the Late Bronze Age were significantly smaller than in the previous era.

According to the researchers, this reduction in body size is a sign of an increase in the intensity of fishing that led to a depletion of stocks, which is to be witnessed also in modern times. "It would seem that fishing and the trade of fish expanded significantly, in fact to such a degree that the fish did not have the chance to grow as large," continued Tütken, pointing out that this was an early form of the systematic commercial exploitation of fish, a type of proto-aquaculture, which persisted for some 2,000 years.

The study is published in Scientific Reports.

Source: Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz [October 15, 2018]

Site in Jericho offers clues into burial rites of ancient world

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on September 20, 2018 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Israel, Near East, Palestine

The transition in burial practice and rites during different phases of the Bronze Age intrigued researchers studying the ancient site of Jericho, they recently told The Jordan Times.

General view of the site of Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho from south, with the Middle Bronze Age (1900–1550 BC) fortification works at the southern side of the tell [Credit: Lorenzo Nigro]

Jericho contains skeletal assemblages that represent fractions of past populations from most of the different archaeological periods covering a time span from 3,500 to 586 BC, said Senior Fellow at the Research Centre for Anatolian Civilisations of Koҫ University in Istanbul Rula Nuri Shafiq.

“The collection is composed of isolated crania [skull], dentition and almost complete individuals with postcranial remains,” Shafiq continued, adding that this kind of variable skeletal representation presents a good reflection of the mortuary practices found at Jericho during the different archaeological periods.

The Jericho site is divided into two parts: Tell Es-Sultan, which represents the city-settlement itself, and the associated large cemetery that contains numerous shaft burials cut directly into limestone.

“Most of the tombs are located under housing constructions at a Palestinian refugee camp, which caused some difficulties and limitations during an excavation by Kathleen Kenyon [1906-1978] in the 1950s,” she said.

 The cemetery consists of a large number of tombs, all carved into the rock, the archaeologist elaborated, adding that the tombs are made of two parts,” the shaft and burial chamber, which both vary in size between the different archaeological periods”.

“The tomb structure usually has a vertical shaft entrance with rounded edges and a depth that varies between one to two metres. The maximum size of shaft reported by Kenyon [1957] was 4.8 metres long and 3 metres wide, with a chamber 4.5 metres in diameter,” Shafiq outlined.

After the burials were completed, the chamber was blocked by rocks, and the shafts were filled with rubble that came from carving the tombs, the scholar explained, adding that most of the periods represented at Jericho were characterised by communal burials, with the exception of the Early Bronze IV period, which was distinguished by single interments.

Tomb D.641 during the excavation [Credit: Lorenzo Nigro]

"Kenyon reported that the burial practices consisted of two phases: first, the deceased would be placed at the central part of the chamber with their burial goods; second, after some time, the disarticulated skeletons were removed to allow room for new interments. The skulls were collected and placed around the chamber walls, while the postcranial bones were discarded outside the tomb. Analysis of the skeletal remains showed clear evidence of cremation that was conducted inside the tombs," Shafiq said.

Tombs dating to the Early Bronze II-III periods were partly damaged by the collapse of the roofs of the burial chambers, thus affecting the preservation of the skeletal remains, the researcher said, stressing that most of the remains were represented by only skulls and a few mixed piles of long bones.

“The Early Bronze IV period showed a striking difference in the burial practices from the preceding Early Bronze II-III and the following Middle Bronze. Early Bronze IV is the only period characterised by single interment burials. There are a few cases of double burials, but the majority are single with much smaller burial chambers than the other periods." Shafiq elaborated.

Furthermore, several of the Early Bronze IV burials are primary but the majority are secondary as indicated by the disarticulated skeletons. Burial goods are simple with a few pots, a dagger, some beads and the remains of animal bones.

Tombs dating to the Middle Bronze II-III periods are mostly re-used Early Bronze IV burial chambers, with only a few tombs of Middle Bronze origin, the scholar said, noting that Kenyon in 1960 reported that the majority of the preserved Middle Bronze tombs showed primary articulated burials.

All Middle Bronze tombs exhibited richer burial goods and more elaborate body treatments compared to the other periods, she highlighted, saying: "Several of the tombs had the remains of wooden objects such as tables, stools, cups and bowls. There were also the remains of sheep and goat bones placed in pots evidently cooked before being placed into the tombs; and parts of these animal bones were found in full articulation with the desiccated meat still preserved. There were also remains of fruits such as pomegranates and possibly grapes [Kenyon 1960]."

"Certain tombs showed special burial treatments for certain individuals, which might be interpreted as ‘elite burials’; Several tombs showed the body of a main individual being placed on a wooden bed or a raised platform, while the remaining interments were placed just below the platform," she emphasised.

"Generally, weapons were not a frequent find in any of these archaeological periods, with the only exception — the Early Bronze IV period — that had the highest number of weapons in the form of daggers [Kenyon 1957]," Shafiq said.

Author: Saeb Rawashdeh | Source: The Jordan Times [September 20, 2018]

Roman-era tombs discovered in Palestinian city of Hebron

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 16, 2018 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Near East, Palestine

A set of Roman-era tombs dating back some 2,000 years have been discovered near the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank during road works, an official said Thursday.

The rock-cut tombs from the Roman-era which were discovered during construction of a new road in Idna village, northwest the West Bank city of Hebron [Credit: AFP/Hazem Bader]

The cemetery dating to the first century AD, when the region was under Roman rule, was found in the village of Idna in the southern West Bank around two weeks ago.

It was discovered during road work in mountainous terrain in the area, said Taleb Jubran, director of the department of tourism and antiquities in Hebron.

Taleb Jubran, director of the department of tourism and antiquities in Hebron, points to a Roman-era burial site discovered near the West Bank city of Hebron [Credit: AFP/Hazem Bader]

Bones, pottery and some 32 tombs set into stone were found. It was clear to archaeologists that artifacts had been stolen from the site before it was officially discovered, said Jubran.

"This discovery is very important for us to study it and to preserve it," Jubran said.

The tombs were set out over a space of some 50 metres.

Taleb Jubran, director of the department of tourism and antiquities in Hebron, points to a Roman-era burial site discovered near the West Bank city of Hebron [Credit: AFP/Hazem Bader]

Officials also hoped to turn the site into a tourist attraction, while further study of it would continue to turn up details of what was found and its importance, he said.

A large number of remains from the Roman era can be found and visited in Israel and the Palestinian territories as well as the region as a whole.

Source: AFP [August 16, 2018]

Unusual 1,000-year-old Arabic clay amulet unearthed in Jerusalem

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on June 15, 2018 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Israel, Near East, Palestine

A rare clay Arabic amulet unearthed by archaeologists in the last days of Ramadan brings an unexpected 1,000-year-old blessing from Allah.

Abbasid-period amulet uncovered at the Givati Parking lot excavation in the City of David [Credit: Eliyahu Yanai]

Discovered last week in the City of David’s Givati Parking Lot excavations near the Old City of Jerusalem, the minuscule 1-centimeter Arabic-inscribed piece of clay bears an unusual two-line personal prayer that reads, “Kareem Trusts in Allah; Lord of the Worlds is Allah.”

It was especially resonant to the archaeologists last week as during the month-long holiday, Muslims traditionally greet each other by saying, “Ramadan Kareem.”

The amulet was uncovered in the flooring of an Abbasid-period structure (circa 9th-10th centuries CE), alongside several examples of pottery sherds and an almost entirely intact oil lamp, upon which black soot attests to its everyday use. It was found in a small room near a tabun, or oven, and sealed between plaster flooring, perhaps indicating it was intentionally placed there during the room’s construction.

June 2018 excavations at the Givati Parking Lot site in the City of David of an Abbasid period layer  [Credit: Eliyahu Yanai]

In conversation with The Times of Israel, co-director of the dig Dr. Yiftah Shalev of the Israel Antiquities Authority said that based on its small size and the fact that there is no hole for a string, it can be assumed that this is a personal item or amulet rather than a seal impression for closing documents or cloth sacks, such as have been discovered elsewhere from other time periods.

In an IAA press release, co-director Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University and Shalev state, “The size of the object, its shape, and the text on it indicate that it was apparently used as an amulet for blessing and protection.”

There are very few examples of such clay amulets. Most similar inscriptions are from seals, which bear only one line, not two, such as this recent discovery.

Oil lamp found in the Abbasid layer of the City of David  [Credit: Eliyahu Yanai]

The inscription underwent preliminary deciphering by Dr. Nitzan Amitai-Preiss of the Rothberg International School at Hebrew University. She will continue to examine and research the unusual, only partially legible, two-line inscription, said Shalev.

According to the IAA press release, “The wording of the first line is familiar from seals made of semiprecious stones, as well as from roadside inscriptions (graffiti) along the pilgrims’ route to Mecca (Darb al-Haj) from the 8th-10th centuries CE. The lower portion of the letters in the second line are faded, and its interpretation is based on similar wordings that appear on personal seals and in several verses from the Koran.”

The Abbasid Caliphate ruled the region from circa 750 CE to 970 CE, during what is often called the Golden Age of Islam. In the latter part of its Baghdad-based empire, Egypt and Palestine were ruled by governors given the title of Al-Ikhshid (Prince). Indicating the importance of Jerusalem to these princes, at least one was buried in the city.

City of David, found underneath the Givati parking lot  [Credit: Eliyahu Yanai]

According to Shalev, the Givati excavations aims to preserve evidence of all the many historic periods represented at the site and display them to the public. Already, visitors can see low-lying Hellenistic-era structures in the deeper excavated areas presented alongside more modern Abbasid-era finds closer to the street level. Shalev’s particular excavation is rather high, he said, but due to the slope of the land, only about 40-50 centimeters from bedrock.

“The idea is at the end of the excavations that every period will be presented. As archaeologists, we see importance in all periods and want to exhibit them,” he explained. “The idea is to discover the ancient world, not any specific period.”

Previous excavations have uncovered other Abbasid-era finds, including an industrial complex. What the specific purpose of the amulet’s location was used for remains somewhat unclear.


“Unfortunately,” the researchers said in the IAA press release, “the poor preservation of the architecture make the purpose of the structure difficult to determine. It is interesting to note that several installations indicate cooking activities that occurred here. Modest structures from the same period were found in prior excavations at the same site, including residential homes interspersed with stores and workshops. It is reasonable to assume that this structure was used as part of that same industrial zone.”

Shalev said that his team pushed to publicize the amulet, which was discovered just last week, because they thought it would be fitting to announce it during Ramadan.

“We wanted to publicize it quickly, so to give everyone its blessing during the holiday,” said Shalev.

Author: Amanda Borschel-Dan | Source: The Times of Israel [June 15, 2018]

Scientists call for 'open-skies' imagery policy over Israel and Palestine

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on May 04, 2018 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Israel, Near East, Palestine

New Oxford University research has called for an 'open-skies policy' around the availability of high resolution satellite imagery of Israel and Palestine.

A 2013 CNES/Airbus satellite image of a new site that could be identified because looting pits over the site are visible on high-resolution satellite imagery [Credit: Map data ©2018 Google]

Since 1997, the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment (KBA) to the 1997 U.S. National Defense Authorization Act, has limited the availability of high-resolution satellite imagery of these countries. Although this law only applies to the United States of America, as a global super power, with dominance over the commercial satellite imagery market, its international impact has been significant. However, new Oxford University research has called for these restrictions to be lifted immediately and set in line with the international standard.

Satellite imagery has transformed the way that scientists can investigate, map and monitor the changing human and physical landscape of the earth. The current KBA Amendment limits the resolution of U.S - produced imagery for Israel to c.2m, which is relatively blurry and means that features smaller than this are not detectable from aerial footage. As a result, the satellite images available on platforms such as Google Earth, of both Israel and Palestine, are of poor quality, significantly restricting the scientific research opportunities in these areas.

In an attempt to overcome these limitations, researchers from the Endangered Archaeology Project at the Oxford School of Archaeology, which relies on satellite imagery to identify and monitor heritage sites across the Middle East and North Africa, investigated the justification for the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, and reviewed how the regulations works in practice.

Published in Space Policy, the research conducted by Dr Andrea Zerbini and Dr Michael Fradley of Oxford's School of Archaeology, finds that while this regulation was broadly assumed to be a static censorship, the limitations were intended to mirror the standard of satellite imagery available outside the United States. However, much stronger high-resolution images have in fact been available from companies such as Airbus in France from as long ago as 2012.

The paper also reveals that there has been some quiet resistance to the US regulation, particularly from Google Earth, where high-resolution images covering areas of the West Bank, Golan Heights and the border areas of Israel, provided by Airbus, are already available on the platform.

The findings demonstrate that these regulations need urgent review, and recommends that US imagery should meet what has become the international standard of 0.5m.

Dr Michael Fradley said: 'Our research demonstrates not only how the current restrictions have hampered scientific research in this area, but also importantly highlights a clear rationale for moving on from the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment. The reduction or removal of these restrictions would open up access to modern satellite imagery, as well as historical images captured by spy satellite that remain classified due to the legal reach of the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, which could allow researchers to record longer-term landscape change.'

The minutes of the latest meetings of the U.S. regulatory body for commercial satellite imagery suggest that restrictions may indeed be lifted, potentially ushering in a new phase of remote-sensing research by archaeologists, geographers and earth scientists across this area of the Levant.

Staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who regulate the implementation of the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, have acknowledged the important role of this new research by the EAMENA team in their ongoing evaluation of regulations. The Endangered Archaeology project has already begun to identify new archaeological sites using higher-resolution satellite in the region, and its work has set a precedent for future scientific research in this area.

Commenting on the potential impact of lifting these sanctions, Dr. Brian Boyd, Program Director, Center for Archaeology, Columbia University, said: 'Zerbini and Fradley's call for an "open-skies policy" with regard to the availability of high resolution satellite imagery of archaeological sites and landscapes in Israel/Palestine has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the human occupation of this region from the earliest prehistoric times to the present day. Their research will also be invaluable in highlighting contemporary endeavors to record and hopefully preserve sites, monuments and landscapes that are under threat from political and military actions not only in Israel/Palestine but in the wider Middle East'.

Source: Oxford University [May 04, 2018]

Excavations start on Palestine’s oldest monastery

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on April 15, 2018 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Near East, Palestine

The Palestinian government and international organizations started a major excavation to restore St. Hilarion Monastery, locally known as Tell Umm Amer, in the central Gaza Strip, Palestine’s oldest and largest Christian monument.

A worker walks on scaffolding at the archaeological site of the St. Hilarion Monastery, one of the largest Christian monasteries in the Middle East, central Gaza Strip, March 19, 2013 [Credit: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images]

The project, which started in January and is expected to take up to two years, is supervised and funded by the British Council's Cultural Protection Fund. Partners of the project include French nongovernmental organization Premiere Urgence Internationale (PUI) as well as the University of Palestine, the Islamic University of Gaza and the French Biblical and Archaeological School in Jerusalem. The project also includes the restoration of a Byzantine church in Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip.

The monastery’s founding text, which was discovered in excavations supervised by the Palestinian Authority in 1994, reveals that the St. Hilarion Monastery was the first Christian landmark in Palestine. It dates back to Hilarion, the founder of Palestinian monasticism. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hilarion was born in Tabatha, south of Gaza, in A.D. 291. He studied in Alexandria, where he became a Christian. He was a disciple of St. Anthony of Egypt and lived with him in the desert. Returning to Palestine in A.D. 306, he started a solitary life by erecting a hut in the wilderness some 7 miles from Maiuma, near Gaza, on the road to Egypt. After establishing the first Palestinian monastery in 329, which grew fast, Hilarion, seeking solitude, migrated first to Thebes, Egypt, and eventually settled and died in Cyprus.

Hiam al-Bitar, an archaeologist at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, told Al-Monitor, “The monastery was built in Nuseirat, central Gaza, which was a deserted area over the hills back then. It included a church and a baptismal font.”

Today, all that remains are the stone walls, a few Corinthian columns and parts of a mosaic floor. “The church in the monastery was renovated three times during the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries as well as in the early seventh century under the Umayyad Caliphate,” Bitar said. “We can see all these renovations in the three mosaic floors, built on top of each other, spreading over an area of over 8 acres. The baptismal font is in the shape of a cross, and the churchyard is paved with marble. There are over 120 rooms to accommodate deacons and priests as well as visitors, a kitchen, a dining hall, a space to grind wheat and press grapes as well as a water fountain and fish spawning grounds.”

The budget for the restoration of the monastery and the Byzantine church is about 1.5 million euros ($1.85 million). The renovations will take two years, employing 75 workers, including international and local experts, archaeologists, academics, students and graduates of history departments in Palestinian universities in the Gaza Strip who will receive training on the restoration of monuments.

“We will use the money to complete 70% of renovation at this monastery and 90% of restoration works at the Byzantine church in Jabaliya. Both sites, however, need additional funding in the future to become fully qualified tourist destinations,” said Jehad Abu Hassan, PUI’s Gaza Strip field coordinator.

General Director of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities Jamal Abu Rida told Al-Monitor that archaeologists have only discovered 8 acres of the St. Hilarion Monastery so far, but excavations should soon uncover more. The ministry reached an agreement with Nuseirat municipality to prevent construction in the areas around the monastery by first getting approval from the ministry.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has already allocated new, farther lands to a citizen from Gaza in 2009 in exchange for his property near where the monastery was discovered.

Abu Rida noted that excavations to discover the monastery began in 1994 and continued sporadically, funded by several parties through UNESCO. "However, this was only emergency funding intended to save the archaeological site from completely being destroyed, and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities set up a fence around the site to prevent herders from taking their sheep there for grazing," he said.

He added, “The restoration aims to restore the work on the mosaic floors and the stones around Hilarion’s tomb as well as the church, parts of which were destroyed due to neglect and the earthquakes that hit the area in the seventh and eighth centuries. The stones that fell off the outer walls of the monastery were taken by the residents of the Gaza Strip who used them at that time to build their homes.”

The site of St. Hilarion had been one of the many archaeological treasures in Gaza that never received sufficient funding for restoration, but this newfound intention to restore monuments in the central province of the Gaza Strip is one positive aspect to be optimistic about.

Author: Huda Baroud | Source: Al-Monitor [April 15, 2018]